Environmental organizations band together to urge Malloy against cuts

Chris Bosak

Published 8:00 pm, Tuesday, May 10, 2011

NEW HAVEN — Nineteen environmental organizations sent a letter to Governor Dannel Malloy urging him not to implement drastic cuts to environmental programs as proposed in the “Plan B” contingency budget options.

“The drastic cuts to environmental programs outlined in Plan B would have a detrimental effect on our environment and the quality of life of Connecticut residents, creating the potential for massive park and beach closings and unhealthy air,” wrote the environmental groups. “Eliminating over 60 percent of seasonal Department of Environmental Protection staff would force the closure of many, if not most, of our State Parks and State Forests.”

The groups also stated that the proposed cuts in Plan B would cripple efforts in the state to improve water quality; cause beach closures due to increased pollution; and severely cut the permitting staff of the already understaffed DEP, causing more permitting logjams and harm to Connecticut’s natural resources.

The groups that signed onto the letter include Connecticut Fund for the Environment and its program Save the Sound, Audubon Connecticut, The Nature Conservancy, Connecticut Forest and Park Association, Environment Northeast, Rivers Alliance, Environment Connecticut, Connecticut League of Conservation Voters, Connecticut Land Conservation Council, Clean Water Action, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Friends of Connecticut State Parks, Connecticut Council of Trout Unlimited, Pootatuck Watershed Association, Connecticut River Watershed Council, Farmington River Watershed Association, Sierra Club, Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice and Friends of Goodwin State Forest.

Below is the full text of the letter.

May 11, 2011

Honorable Dannel P. Malloy

Office of the Governor

State Capitol

210 Capitol Avenue

Hartford, Connecticut 06106

Dear Governor Malloy,

On behalf of hundreds of thousands of Connecticut citizens, we are writing to express our deep concern about your administration’s “Plan B” contingency budget options. The drastic cuts to environmental programs outlined in Plan B would have a detrimental effect on our environment and the quality of life for Connecticut residents, creating the potential for massive park and beach closings and unhealthy air.

Reducing over 60 percent of seasonal Department of Environmental Protection staff would force the closure of many, if not most, of our State Parks and State Forests. This will seriously diminish the quality of life for Connecticut families and significantly reduce the inflow of tourism dollars from neighboring states. This would all be occurring at a time when our residents are struggling financially and are more likely to be looking to our own State Parks and Forests for recreational opportunities rather than traveling out of state for family outings and vacations. Furthermore, this action will save far less money than indicated in Plan B; in fact, it could actually cause the state to lose millions of dollars in lost park admission revenues and lose opportunities to create new revenue by managing state forest resources. It would also lose even greater revenues from the local mom-and-pop stores, restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts that rely on DEP lands to draw tourists to Connecticut.

The efforts we are making to improve water quality would also be crippled by the cuts outlined in Plan B. Much of our day-to-day water stewardship is currently shouldered by volunteers, including unpaid commissioners. There is only a thin line of government-funded protection for our water and it is an absolutely crucial component of that protection. Erasing those funds would be detrimental to the state, causing polluted water at our beaches and unhealthy water for aquatic life. Additionally, removing the financial protection of our water will put the future of our drinking water supplies at risk, including our remaining uncontaminated aquifers which are essential to the well-being of all residents.

Additionally, it is likely that beach closures will increase markedly if the proposed cuts are implemented. Even at the current funding levels, our water quality is not at the level it should be. In 2010, discharges of raw and poorly treated sewage resulted in increased beach closings and the declaration of 89 percent of Connecticut rivers as unsafe for swimming by national standards.

The DEP is already struggling to meet its obligations after almost two decades of defunding. The agency has already lost almost 10 percent of its workers since 1993 and inspections at the agency have declined by just over 60 percent since 1997 and are continuing on a downward slope. Not surprisingly, as inspections decreased, illegal pollution increased, rising above 10 percent for the first time since 2005.

Indeed, the backlog in permitting at the agency prompted the legislature’s passage of P.A. 10-148 last year. A report required by that law concluded that the DEP would need substantial additional resources just to meet its existing permit timeframes. While the amount of actual resources is subject to debate, it is abundantly clear that we cannot meet our goals even at current staffing levels. Implementing the severe cuts contemplated by Plan B would be certain to wreak devastation on our environment and our economy that could take years, if not decades, simply to reverse.

Over the past twenty years, studies going as far back as the 1990 Thomas Commission have singled out the DEP as being understaffed. Yet the agency has fewer staff now than it did in at the time of that study. Plan B, while recommending an average staff reduction of 10.2 percent per agency, proposes a cut of twice that amount for the already severely understaffed DEP. Such an excessive reduction would seriously harm the clean air, land and water on which we and our children depend.

Governor Malloy, we understand that concessions must be made and we are not asking that the DEP be exempt from that. What we are asking is that the cuts that are made to environmental programs not be so drastic that they greatly impact the state parks and forests, air, water and other natural resources that Connecticut residents enjoy so greatly.